3. Foreword by the
Minister for Cabinet
Office and
Paymaster General
Transparency and open government are ideas
whose time has come. People around the
world are demanding much greater openness,
democracy and accountability from their
governments. Citizens are demanding that the
state should be their servant, not their master,
and that information that governments hold
should be open for everyone to see. At the
same time, new technology is disrupting
established bureaucracies and creating
opportunities for much more responsive
government. Around the world, reforms to
open up government are delivering tangible
benefits: faster growth, better public services,
less corruption and less poverty.
the public can see and understand the
workings of their government through
more transparency
the public can influence the workings of
their government and society by
participating in the policy process and in
the delivery of public services
the public can hold the government to
account for its policy and delivery of public
services
Open government establishes a platform for
independent and collaborative action by
citizens, civil society, private companies and
public servants. Transparency, participation
and accountability provide the essential
foundation for economic, social and political
progress by increasing the openness of
institutions and public processes while
maintaining and respecting the privacy of
individuals.
We have consistently made clear our
commitment for the UK to become “the most
open and transparent government in the
world”1. Our resolve has not weakened.
Indeed, our engagement with civil society to
develop and agree the stretching and
ambitious commitments in this second Open
Government Partnership UK National Action
Plan has strengthened, not lessened our
commitment to open government. The result
of this partnership is a set of commitments
that take important steps towards increased
openness helping to ensure that:
Here in the UK, we are leading the world on
open data. Our web portal data.gov.uk is
already the most comprehensive data
resource in the world with more than 10,300
data files. The government is working closely
with businesses and charities to identify new
public data to release. Whether it’s apps that
tell passengers when the next bus is due, or a
small analytics business that has identified
hundreds of millions of pounds of potential
savings in the health system, transparency is
helping to improve people’s lives and boost
economic growth. We are, as evidenced by
this plan, also striving to do more on other
aspects of open government as we race for
the top.
1
http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pms-podcast-ontransparency/;
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/francis-maudespeech-to-mark-the-launch-of-new-government-transparencycommitments
3
4. Foreword by the
UK OGP Civil
Society Network
Open government is critical to the wellbeing
and empowerment of citizens around the
world. It helps to ensure that those who take
decisions that affect people’s lives are
properly accountable and responsive to the
public - supporting the effective, equitable
and sustainable use of resources, delivery
of public services and exercise of authority.
Overall, however, we believe that the
commitments included in this plan represent
positive steps towards greater openness.
We particularly commend the commitment
to openness demonstrated in the
development of this plan by officials from
the Cabinet Office Transparency Team, as
well as government teams involved in
drafting commitments. While not every
commitment in the plan has been endorsed
by every named organisation, we have all
participated in a process of dialogue with
government on the contents of this action
plan. As is recognised by the Open
Government Partnership, civil society has a
critical role to play in promoting the rights
and interests of citizens and challenging
governments to be more accountable and
responsive to the public. The formation of
country national action plans provides
governments with the opportunity to put into
practice the principles of open government
by including voices from civil society.
Citizens around the world are demanding
ever more openness from their
governments and other powerful actors in
society. This is no less true in the UK than
anywhere else. The UK public are
demanding to know, and to have a say in,
how public money is spent, how decisions
are made and who influences them, who
the owners of companies are and how much
tax they pay, how UK companies operate
overseas, and how public services are
delivered and what their results are.
We welcome the progress made by the
government in this National Action Plan on
a number of important open government
issues. Areas where we especially endorse
the government’s commitments include
beneficial ownership, transparency of aid
flows and the global extractive (oil, gas and
mining) industries. We had hoped to reach
stronger and more ambitious commitments
in several areas, and there are some
issues, such as freedom of information and
lobbying transparency, on which many of us
disagree with the government and urge it to
reconsider its current position.
While the development of this plan has not
been without its challenges and
disagreements, we believe the process has
itself demonstrated the benefits of greater
openness. The result is a set of stronger
and better thought through commitments
with greater prospects for delivery than
would otherwise have been the case. We
commit to continue to work with and
constructively challenge the government to
fulfil our shared ambition of becoming the
“most open and transparent government in
the world”.
4
5. Introduction
Transparency, participation and accountability
are not just lofty principles – they affect
people's lives on a daily basis. Together, they
ensure that those with power are responsive
to the views and interests of citizens.
Openness is no longer a choice for
governments. It is a necessity in order to stay
relevant in a changing world.
commitments, in partnership with civil society
to improve transparency, participation and
accountability. The UK was one of eight
founding countries when the OGP was
launched in September 2011 at the United
Nations General Assembly. The OGP is
overseen by a Steering Committee of
governments and civil society organisations
with the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Rt
Hon Francis Maude MP, representing the UK
government. In just over two years, the OGP
has gone from having eight member countries
to over 60.
Social, economic and political transformations
mean that the top-down, closed model of
government is no longer able to meet the
expectations and demands of citizens.
Governments must adapt to a world in which:
it no longer holds the monopoly on policy
expertise
citizens expect to have a say in the decisions
that affect their lives
wellbeing and prosperity requires action from
many different actors.
To become a member of the OGP, countries
must first meet certain eligibility criteria. The
OGP works by having relatively
straightforward conditions for entry, rather
than a high bar to entry, but then encourages
countries to make ambitious and stretching
commitments in a ‘race to the top’. The OGP
rewards excellence and penalises backsliding
or inaction through the Independent Reporting
Mechanism.
This is a world in which governments cannot
act alone, but must collaborate with and
enable the action of others.
The four eligibility criteria for joining the OGP
are:
fiscal transparency – the timely publication
of essential budget documents forms the
basic building blocks of budget
accountability and an open budget system
access to information – an access to
information law that guarantees the
public’s right to information and access to
government data is essential to the spirit
and practice of open government
disclosures related to elected or senior
public officials – rules that require public
Background to the Open
Government Partnership
The opening up of governments is not a new
movement but has gathered momentum and
pace over recent years. The Open
Government Partnership (OGP) was formed
two years ago to support eligible governments
to make ambitious and stretching
5
6.
disclosure of income and assets for
elected and senior public officials are
essential to anti-corruption and open,
accountable government
citizen engagement – open government
requires openness to citizen participation
and engagement in policy making and
governance, including basic protections for
civil liberties
Once a country has demonstrated it meets all
four of the eligibility criteria and has joined the
OGP, it must then meet the following
requirements:
work with civil society to develop an OGP
national action plan
implement OGP commitments in
accordance with the action plan timeline
prepare an annual self-assessment report
participate in the independent reporting
mechanism research process
contribute to peer learning across the
OGP
has a seat on the OGP Steering
Committee and is represented at co-chair
level; governments are expected to involve
civil society organisations in the drafting,
production and implementation of a
country’s national action plan
stretch and ambition – a country’s national
action plan should not coast on past
successes or set out old commitments
under the pretence that they are new; one
of the intentions of the OGP is to have a
mechanism to push governments towards
taking action on issues that take them out
of their comfort zone adopting an
approach that is often bold and innovative
making it applicable – making sure that a
country’s national action plan makes
commitments that are meaningful and
impactful to deliver a genuinely more
open, transparent and participative
government
OGP commitments have to relate to a set of
five ‘grand challenges’ as listed below. In
year one of membership of the OGP, a
country has to develop concrete commitments
around at least one of these grand challenges.
When a country produces its national action
plan it has to follow three basic rules when
developing commitments:
civil society participation – this is the
defining feature of the OGP; civil society
Open Government Partnership Grand Challenges
1. Improving public services – measures that address the full spectrum of citizen services
including health, education, criminal justice, water, electricity, telecommunications and any
other relevant service areas, by fostering public service improvement or private sector
innovation
2. Increasing public integrity – measures that address corruption and public ethics, access
to information, campaign finance reform, and media and civil society freedom
3. More effectively managing public resources – measures that address budgets,
procurement, natural resources and foreign assistance
4. Creating safer communities – measures that address public safety, the security sector,
disaster and crisis response, and environmental threats
5. Increasing corporate accountability – measures that address corporate responsibility on
issues such as the environment, anti-corruption, consumer protection and community
engagement
6
7. been made in making government data
available wherever this does not conflict with
the rights of individuals. But we are aware
open government is much more than open
data.
The UK in the OGP
The UK published its first National Action Plan
in September 2011 and a self-assessment
report on progress in April 2013. This first plan
was reviewed recently by Kevin Dunion,
Executive Director of the Centre for Freedom
of Information, as part of the OGP’s
independent reporting process.
The focus of the UK’s first plan was around
the grand challenges of improving public
services and more effectively managing public
resources. We have now broadened our reach
to demonstrate what we are doing across all
five grand challenges, with all our
commitments relating to two of more of these
challenges.
The UK Government welcomes the IRM report
and is pleased that out of the 37 commitments
that we are taking forward, all have either
been completed or are in progress. The
report highlights areas where progress has
been strong including:
setting standards by embedding the Public
Data Principles as policy for central
government departments, highlighting
main principles and good practice when
sharing open data, and monitoring
underperformance
introducing data licensing through the
Open Government Licence allowing
individuals and companies to use and reuse information and data produced by the
public sector in a manner compatible with
other creative commons licenses, thereby
contributing to increased citizen
engagement, awareness and economic
activity
increasing corporate and personal
responsibility through the strengthened
Public Sector Transparency Board and
nine sector transparency panels
collecting and publishing the right data
through increased functionality on
data.gov.uk and the datasets made
available
going digital through the successful launch
of GOV.UK as the single government
domain, and the subsequent plan to move
23 major services online, as well as our
Assisted Digital strategy and the release of
a digital strategy by each department
improving public engagement through ICT
by publishing all government consultations
fully online, providing links to relevant
additional information, and publishing
social media guidelines to enable civil
servants to engage directly with the public
We also accept that more work could have
been undertaken to engage civil society and
we have proactively taken steps to address
this point. The OGP UK Civil Society Network
(the Network), which formed in response to
the UK’s first action plan and is currently
coordinated by Involve, brings a unique and
valuable perspective to these issues. The
Network currently has a mailing list of
representatives from over 50 civil society
organisations working towards open
government in the UK and internationally.
Over 30 civil society organisations have been
have been actively involved in the
development of this plan.
As lead co-chair of the OGP in 2013 (with
Indonesia being the second co-chair) and as
holders of the G8 Presidency, the UK
government has taken a leadership position
on many important issues civil society have
been calling for such as the creation of a
publicly accessible central registry of company
beneficial ownership information so tax
collection, law enforcement agencies and
others know who really owns and profits from
companies; and working with resource rich
countries to help them manage their extractive
revenues more transparently and accountably
so they can make the most of their natural
resources, reduce their reliance on aid and
move out of poverty.
Teams from the government and the Network
have developed this plan and the
commitments within it in partnership. Through
a series of meetings and in-depth
engagement, a draft action plan was
published for public consultation in June 2013.
This set out a series of commitments agreed
by government and civil society, as well as a
number of further requests from civil society.
The most significant reservation expressed in
the report was the fact that the UK’s first plan
was too focused on open data, and we accept
this criticism. Since then, great strides have
7
8. Eleven consultation responses were received
in response to the public consultation on the
draft plan, and the views expressed in those
submissions have helped inform the finalising
of this plan. In parallel, members of the
Network and government officials continued to
work together in partnership to develop,
scrutinise and reach a compromise on the
commitments outlined in this plan. In
producing this final plan, we have built on the
commitments contained within the draft plan
and taken forward a significant number of the
requests by civil society. The process has
been successful in strengthening cross
departmental coordination across a range of
issues and helping to pull together existing
government plans.
While members of the Network and
government have not agreed on everything,
the partnership has delivered an important set
of commitments that will bring significant
benefits to citizens in the UK and beyond.
Each commitment outlines which civil society
organisations support it as a positive step
towards open government, and have been or
will be involved in its development and
delivery.
By working in partnership to develop this
second National Action Plan the process has
been significantly strengthened and has led to
a much more robust and ambitious plan.
8
9. Structure of the
plan
An important element of the next steps is how
government and civil society will continue to
work in partnership with each other.
This plan has been structured to complement
the themes of the OGP’s annual summit 2013.
The five themes of the plan are:
open data – radically opening up
government data for greater
accountability, public service improvement
and economic growth
government integrity – fighting corruption
and strengthening democracy through
transparent government
fiscal transparency – helping citizens to
follow the money
empowering citizens – transforming the
relationship between citizens and
governments
natural resource transparency – ensuring
natural resources and extractive revenues
are used for public benefit
Under each theme below we have set out the
progress we have made to date; our new
commitments and timelines; which of the OGP
grand challenges the commitment responds
to; and the organisations or groups from civil
society that we have worked with to develop
and agree each commitment.
The final section of this plan identifies the next
steps we will take to implement the
commitments and ensure delivery. This
includes our approach to reporting on
progress and holding to account those who
have a role to play in the plan’s success.
9
10. Open data: radically
opening up
government data for
greater
accountability,
public service
improvement and
economic growth
Progress to date
The signing of the Open Data Charter at the
Lough Erne Summit in June 2013 by all G8
leaders was a pivotal moment for the open
data movement. Setting out five principles to
allow the improved release, access and reuse of data held by G8 countries, the Charter
signifies a growing worldwide recognition that
opening up data can help to transform
people’s everyday lives. Apps that tell you
what time your train leaves, how taxpayers’
money is being spent, or crime rates in your
local area – these are all down to data.
Opening up government data has enormous
potential to drive economic growth and spread
prosperity. It improves accountability,
strengthens governance, builds trust and
drives innovation in both the private sector
and in the delivery of key public services.
the establishment of the Open Data User
Group, whereby experts work with
government to identify valuable new
datasets to release
the creation of Sector Transparency
Boards in every government department to
drive forward and implement open data
strategies across government
If the UK is to capitalise on the vast
opportunities available from opening up
government held data, then our citizens must
have the skills and know-how to take raw data
and make it into a valuable and useable
product. This is why we are also launching
Seizing the Data Opportunity, the
government’s strategy for UK data capability,
which sets out the UK's aim to be a world
leader in extracting knowledge and value from
data for the benefit of citizens, business,
academia and government. The
strategy contains a series of
actions addressing key areas of
capability, including building a strong skills
base, and ensuring we have the appropriate
tools and infrastructure to access and work
with all types of data – including administrative
data, open data, big data and research data.
The UK government has been one of the main
supporters and champions of the open data
movement and over recent years has pressed
forward with an ambitious programme to make
the data it holds available online and for free.
Some of the main achievements are:
the creation of the internationally
renowned data.gov.uk which now holds
more than 10,300 datasets from central
government and public authorities in one
searchable website
the setting up of the Open Data Institute
founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the
inventor of the World Wide Web, to fuel
innovative uses of data
We also recognise that while we have made
good progress, we can still do more. At the
Lough Erne Summit, we committed to publish
an Open Data Charter action plan to
demonstrate how we would work towards
making our government open by default and
improve the quality and quantity of data
released. That plan sets out our priorities for
10
11. the next 12 to 18 months to not only meet the
core commitments of the Open Data Charter,
but also continue to push our ambition further,
through initiatives like the National Information
Infrastructure (NII).
Commitment 1
The UK government will continue to develop and list an inventory of all the datasets it
owns, whether published or unpublished, in order to identify the National Information
Infrastructure (NII) – the datasets which are likely to have the broadest and most
significant economic and social impact if made available. The identification of the NII will
facilitate discussions to prioritise the release of these datasets.
Supporting civil society organisations
Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Rights Group, OpenCorporates
Impact and vision
It has become clear over the last three years that public sector information has the potential to
drive social wellbeing and economic growth in the UK. We cannot however always predict the
ways that government data is going to be used and some truly innovative applications and
services have been developed from government datasets whose value was not immediately
obvious. For this data to be better exploited and used, government needs to be clear about
what data there is, what uses it is important for, how organisations can get access to it and the
sustainability of that access.
Through being transparent about what we own, and identifying the datasets which have the
potential to have the broadest impact, the UK Government can allow innovation to flourish and
help drive growth. A feedback loop will allow government to produce better quality data that
scores better against the five star rating resulting in it becoming a more efficient owner and
producer of data.
The UK’s ambition is to release these datasets openly as per the Open Data Charter wherever
possible and it will commit to a publication timetable.
Context
The UK government wants to be the most transparent government in the world. There is an
ongoing mission to publish, in an open, usable and reusable format, as much of the data
government holds as possible. In the last three years, the government has released more than
10,300 datasets. It has established sector boards to examine, challenge and advise on
transparency in key areas of government. In 2013, the government committed to increased
transparency about what data it holds, at the same time highlighting which datasets might have
the broadest and deepest potential economic and/or social impact to enable better public
services. This allows government to hold itself accountable to the public as well as allowing for
interaction for a potential range of benefits. The public, business, civil society, and developers
are all interested in accessing data. By developing a NII, through collaboration with all those
groups, we can create a roadmap which allows the government to prioritise the release of the
most (potentially) impactful datasets.
In his recent independent review of public sector information Stephan Shakespeare, Chief
Executive of YouGov, recommended that government should have a ‘twin-track’ approach to
the release of government data focusing principally on the release of ‘core reference data’
alongside other datasets. In response the government committed to the creation of a NII which
would make clear the most important datasets held by government and create a framework to
help data owners prioritise their release.
For the first time, the Cabinet Office have worked with central government departments to
identify all the datasets that are not currently published on data.gov.uk and to provide a facility
11
12. to list what they are, what data they contain and information about when they might be released
or why they are not suitable for publication. At the same time as publishing the inventory, the
Cabinet Office launched a platform to assess all datasets for their potential to create economic
and social impact, effect change in public services or their linkability. This has started to inform
discussions about prioritising data release and establishing suitability for inclusion in the NII.
This will become a powerful tool for crowd sourcing evidence of the importance and impact of
government datasets.
The government data inventories will be a live representation of what data government owns.
They will change as the data assets change, as too might the list of the datasets with the most
potential benefit and impact. The UK’s ambition is to release these datasets in an open and
reusable format and we will commit to a publication timetable.
Timescales
The key milestones for the delivery of this commitment are for:
departments to provide release dates for datasets in the first iteration of the NII, where there
are no barriers to publication, and, where there are barriers, provide an explanation for nonpublication by December 2013
departments to set out arrangements they have put in place to describe the provenance and
ensure the quality and regularity of the release of data they have within the NII by January
2014
departments, including their arm’s length bodies (ALBs), to ensure that their list of
unpublished datasets is comprehensive by March 2014
departments to develop internal processes which identify unpublished datasets when they
are created and ensure that they are added to the inventory on data.gov.uk by March 2014
departments to develop internal processes which ensure that data holders regularly
reconsider the use cases for their data by April 2014
all central government departments to highlight those datasets which they must provide on a
statutory basis by April 2014, followed by their ALBs by September 2014
all central government departments to highlight those datasets which it considers fall under
their public task by April 2014, followed by their ALBs by September 2014
Means
The commitment will be driven from the Cabinet Office supported and challenged by the Public
Sector Transparency Board (independent advisers to government) and the Sector
Transparency Boards (government officials and open data experts and activists).
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, GC5
Commitment 2
NHS England will work with governments and civil society organisations internationally
to create an online space to share experiences of embedding high quality standards into
information, with a view to building an accreditation scheme to enable citizens and
organisations to assess their progress.
Vision and impact
Clear, high quality, standards in information mean that:
a huge range of partners are able to participate in the health information market and that
data and information can be readily used, re-used and combined with other sources as it is
published to ensure that it has the maximum possible reach
comparisons between healthcare providers, local (or international) populations or groups of
healthcare professionals and patients can be made confidently to support engagement in
the design and quality of healthcare
12
13.
software vendors can confidently develop products that can be used across a range of
providers stimulating economic growth and providing a basis for reduced costs for
purchasers
if the same standards for information are adopted by multiple nations, the ability for patients
to allow doctors and nurses in other countries than their ‘home’ to access their medical
information should result in safer, better care
Information systems in healthcare that can share and link data are key to safer, better quality
care and are entirely reliant on high quality information standards. If information is consistently
recorded and reported then it ensures that people are able to confidently make comparisons
about performance or quality and supports the participation of citizens in the design and quality
of healthcare.
By creating an online space with a community element, other countries can contribute their own
experiences, post challenges they are facing or help NHS England and others to find solutions.
The eventual aim is to build, through this international engagement, an accreditation scheme
that enables citizens and organisations to assess their progress, supported by peer review via
the virtual network.
Context
We hope that by sharing our experiences of setting robust standards for healthcare information,
supported by a virtual network and resource hub, we can help other countries as well as other
organisations in the UK to adopt robust information standards.
Through this work we will set out a package of support that other countries can use such as:
establish a virtual network of countries who can share approaches, successes and
challenges and learn from one another
tell the story of how the NHS has implemented high quality standards
establish an index of resources, published under the Open Government Licence, that other
countries can interrogate, use and localise
We will also signal an intention to collaborate through this network to develop a framework of
standards that any nation can use to assess how well they are doing.
Timescales
The key milestones for the delivery of this commitment are:
website established (October 2013)
participation in the virtual network by 15 member states and civil society organisations (June
2014)
accreditation system established (Autumn 2014)
Additional milestones will be developed with civil society organisations and international
partners.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC3
13
14. Commitment 3
The UK government will issue a revised Local Authorities Data Transparency Code
requiring local authorities to publish key information and data. This will place more
power into citizens’ hands and make it easier for local people to contribute to the local
decision making process and help shape public services.
Supporting civil society organisations
Compact Voice
Vision and impact
Transparency is the foundation of local accountability and the key that gives people the tools
and information they need to enable them to play a bigger role in society. The availability of data
can also open new markets for local business, the voluntary and community sectors and social
enterprises to run services or manage public assets. The UK government believes that in
principle, all data held and managed by local authorities should be made available to local
people unless there are specific sensitivities (eg protecting vulnerable people or commercial
and operational considerations) to doing so. The data needs to be presented so that it can be
understood by citizens and community groups, reused in web and mobile phone applications to
drive innovation and business growth, analysed and compared for sector led improvement, and
commented and consulted on in social media. The UK government will encourage local
authorities to see data as a valuable resource not only to themselves, but also to their partners
and local citizens.
Context
In September 2011 the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published
the Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency. This Code
was issued to meet the government’s desire to place more power into citizens’ hands to
increase democratic accountability and make it easier for local people to contribute to the local
decision making process and help shape public services. The government will issue a revised
Code and is minded to bring into force regulations to make it a legal requirement for local
authorities to publish data in accordance with parts of the revised Code.
Local authorities have responded positively to this agenda – all local authorities are already
publishing expenditure of £500 and over, but performance on publishing other data varies
across authorities; the NAO found that only 4% of local authorities published information on land
and building assets. The revised Code will ensure greater consistency in the data that is made
available to local people across England.
Timescales
The next steps to deliver this policy are to:
publish the government response to its consultation on revising the Code, including a draft
of the revised Code (November 2013)
issue the revised Local Authorities Data Transparency Code (Winter 2013)
bring into force regulations making it a legal requirement for local authorities to publish data
in accordance with the Code (Winter 2013)
work with the sector, eg local government workshops, to disseminate guidance and good
practice (Spring to Summer 2014)
work with the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Information Commissioner’s
Office to adopt a light touch approach to monitoring and enforcement and determine levels
of compliance during the 2014 to 2015 period
Means
We are going to support this policy through:
providing new burdens funding following the enactment of any regulations
engaging in a dialogue with councils across the country, eg roadshows
14
15.
working with the LGA, Local eGovernment Standards Body etc to develop appropriate
guidance
Grand challenges
GC2, GC3
Commitment 4
By 2015, the UK aims to be the most transparent social investment market in the Open
Government Partnership and G20, in line with the Open Data Charter principles.
Supporting civil society organisations
Big Lottery Fund, Big Society Capital, City of London Bridges Trust, Social Enterprise UK
Impact and vision
Transparency and open data are vital tools in delivering social impact. Greater transparency in
social investment markets will help more social ventures to access the capital they need and
socially minded investors to deploy their funds to greatest effect. Internationally, success will
mean:
greater visibility on the size of the global social investment market – to attract greater
amounts of capital into the market
greater consistency around the measurement and reporting of social impact – to support
increased sharing of know-how and cross-border social investment activity
Domestically, success will mean:
more open data on the cost and availability of social investment – to help social ventures
better identify appropriate sources of financial support
greater transparency on public service contracts, including the underlying unit price and cost
of service interventions – to help social ventures and investors find opportunities to deliver
public services that are more effective than current provision
Context
Social investment blends financial return and social impact. Both investors and the end ventures
they support need clarity on the financial and social return they are achieving. Actions to
increase this clarity will lead to greater transparency (across metrics of impact), accountability
(as more citizens can see the effectiveness of public services) and participation (as more
ventures can access public service contracts, and more citizens invest their money for social
impact).
As of 2013, Cabinet Office has:
set up, under the UK’s Presidency of the G8, the first Social Impact Investment Taskforce,
with the aim of bringing greater consistency across the international field
supported Inspiring Impact; this programme, coordinated by New Philanthropy Capital, aims
to make high quality impact measurement the norm for charities and social enterprises by
2022 – the first year of the programme developed a Code of Good Impact Practice
worked collaboratively with partners in the sector to create the UK’s first Social Investment
Readiness Charter, setting out five principles through which to support the market
linked with leading sector organisations to establish the Market Stewardship Research
Group, which delivers an ongoing and publicly available research agenda
supported the creation of a Social Investment Trade Association , which, as part of its work,
will encourage social investment intermediaries to be more navigable to potential investees
(such as social enterprises and charities) through more transparent and open
communication of market data
15
16. Timescales
We will be reporting on the international commitments by the end of 2014 through the Social
Impact Investment Taskforce. We will provide an annual update of progress on domestic
commitments, as part of HMG’s wider Social Investment Strategy, also in 2014.
Means
International commitments will be delivered by national governments who have volunteered to
achieve these standards, and overseen by an international taskforce comprising government
and private sector representatives from around the globe. Best practice will be shared by a new
Global Learning Exchange (in partnership with the World Economic Forum and Impact Investing
Policy Collaborative)
Domestic commitments will be delivered by the UK government and key sector bodies, such as
the Social Investment Forum.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC3, GC4, GC5
Commitment 5
The UK government will manage and capture digital records and there will be a
comprehensive, accessible and timely paper and digital record of UK government
available to the citizen.
Supporting civil society organisations
The International Records Management Trust
Impact and vision
Citizens will have access to the records of UK government earlier and delivered in ways that
make them more accessible and more usable than they have ever before.
Context
Ensuring the creation, capture and survival of essential public records is the ultimate guarantee
of transparency for governments. Without good information management, there is no
transparency; no records for public scrutiny and use or to provide necessary evidence to
underpin data and statistics to benefit the wider public sector and the citizen.
The UK government needs to define clearly what records departments need to keep in the
digital era, both in paper and digital format, and to enable them to do this efficiently and
effectively. This will help to ensure that information is available and survives for scrutiny both
now and in the future.
The UK government is working with archives across the public sector to help ensure that this
potential is realised at both local and national levels.
On 1 January 2013, the period by which records selected for permanent preservation should be
transferred to The National Archives and specialist places of deposit was reduced from 30 to 20
years. The change to a ‘20 year rule’ is being implemented over a ten-year transition period that
will enable departments to transfer two years worth of records to The National Archives every
year until 2023. This is estimated to have effected over three million government records. This is
a key part of the UK’s transparency agenda and will see a wealth of historical material opened
up to the public much earlier. The aim is to provide greater openness and accountability,
strengthening democracy through more timely public scrutiny of government policy and
decision-making.
16
17. Key achievements up to 2013 are:
The National Archives worked with departments to examine existing processes and identify
efficiencies. The work delivered an efficient, scalable and sustainable transfer process for
paper records, which form the majority of records covered by the transition period, which
delivered real cost savings to government
during 2012, The National Archives also revised and updated its records collection policy.
This defines the types of records that should be taken into its collection and that
departments should identify for permanent preservation
the Information Principles for the UK public sector were released in December 2011 under
the government’s ICT Strategy, which referenced many areas of guidance and best practice
supported by The National Archives
The National Archives has been preserving government websites for a decade. The UK
Government Web Archive includes material that dates from 1996 to the present. It ensures that,
through preservation and web continuity, links persist and government information published
online remains fully accessible online. It also captures the websites of major public inquiries.
Timescales
The key milestones for the delivery of this commitment are:
by April 2014, The National Archives will deliver a fully operational mechanism for the
accessioning and preservation of digital records – the Digital Records Infrastructure (DRI)
by April 2015, The National Archives will have an efficient, scalable and sustainable process
for the transfer of digital records to the DRI supported by publicly available guidance on its
website and training for transferring departments
by 2023, the transition to the 20 year rule will be complete; departmental compliance in
transferring records to The National Archives under the Public Records Act is measured in
its bi-annual Records Transfer Report, which details statistics on the status of departments’
progress
Means
The government will define and deliver an efficient, scalable and sustainable process for the
transfer of its digital records into the DRI. The National Archives has resourced a Digital
Transfer Project within its operational transfer teams, supported by their counterparts within
transferring government departments. The project will gather business intelligence to build a
view of the numbers of digital records expected to start transferring as business as usual from
2017. It will work with departments to understand their capabilities and deliver an operational
process that can be supported by government. This process will be operational across
departments transferring digital records by April 2015 and will be supported by publicly available
guidance and training.
Government, through The National Archives, will continue to publish guidance to support the
management of digital records and work to ensure that existing guidance is kept up to date. By
the end of 2013, it will publish a set of business requirements to support the management of
digital information and will refresh its retention and disposal guidance by the middle of 2014.
The government is working to identify how technologies can be used to support the
identification and release of the government record. The National Archives is working on a
challenge to the government’s standards hub to define a minimum metadata standard for
transfer and publishing that includes retention and disposal criteria.
The government will invest in creating innovative solutions to the preservation challenges
involved in capturing the government web estate and keeping information published online
findable in the future. A social media archive will be launched in Autumn 2013, with a focus on
Twitter and YouTube.
Grand challenges
GC2, GC3, GC5
17
18. Government
integrity: fighting
corruption and
strengthening
democracy through
transparent
government
Progress to date
and not siphoned off through embezzlement,
bribery or tax evasion. It also requires strong
international cooperation between different
players, including the UK’s Overseas
Territories and Crown Dependencies,
business, international institutions and civil
society.
The UK government is committed to tackling
corruption. Corruption harms individuals,
societies, economic development and the
environment, both in the UK and overseas.
Corruption undermines financial and social
stability, weakens investor confidence and
remains one of the major impediments to
poverty alleviation, good governance,
achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals, and the fight against organised and
serious crime.
This is why the UK made it a cornerstone of
its G8 Presidency to tackle tax evasion and
fraud and promote transparency of company
beneficial ownership. Despite there being in
place comprehensive international rules to
prevent money laundering, the UK recognises
that we all have more to do to ensure that
those rules are fully implemented and
effective.
Corruption has devastating consequences for
the most vulnerable citizens in many states.
Africa loses more through illicit financial flows
than it gets in aid and foreign direct
investment, and the scale of the problem is
mounting2. In 2010, developing countries lost
over US$850 billion in illicit financial flows –
an increase of 11% in one year3.
At the G8 Summit at Lough Erne, the UK and
other G8 members also agreed to hold the
first public and private sector dialogue on antimoney laundering and how to prevent the
financing of terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Dialogue was hosted by the Namibian
Government from 6 to 8 September 2013 and
was attended by a dozen finance and other
ministers from the Eastern and Southern
African region, and over 200 delegates from
the G8 and regional treasuries, financial
investigation units, financial institutions,
telecommunication units, non-governmental
organisations, the World Bank and United
Nations. The Dialogue covered a range of
issues relevant to anti-money laundering and
the prevention of the financing of terrorism
and a report will be produced by the G8.
Tackling corruption cannot be solved by one
country alone. It requires strong international
action and enforcement of anti-corruption
legislation to ensure that public resources are
used for public goods and service delivery,
2
Africa Progress Panel Report 2013, page 65
http://www.africaprogresspanel.org/en/publications/africaprogress-report-2013/apr-documents/
3
Global Financial Integrity (2012) Illicit Financial Flows from
Developing Countries 2001 – 2010
http://iff.gfintegrity.org/iff2012/2012report.html
18
19. companies, and to ensure that this information
is available to tax authorities and law
enforcement authorities. They also agreed to
join the multilateral pilot for automatic tax
information exchange launched by the UK,
France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Good
progress has also been made on their
commitment to join the Multilateral Convention
on Mutual Administrative Assistance on Tax
Matters. These are significant steps
forward.The Overseas Territories and Crown
Dependencies have demonstrated their
commitment to take action to be at the
forefront of international standards in this
area, and it is essential that commitments are
fully implemented to deliver a fair, responsible
and effectively regulated global business
environment.
The UK, with the support of other G8 nations
also agreed to share its experience of
supervision and enforcement of anti-money
laundering legislation in the financial sector by
conducting a lessons learned exercise. This
will help identify best practice to inform further
work by the Financial Action Task Force in
this area during 2014 to 2015.
At the same time, the UK is working with the
UK Overseas Territories and Crown
Dependencies so that together we lead from
the front on this agenda. All Overseas
Territories and Crown Dependencies with a
financial services industry have published
action plans setting out steps they will take to
deliver much greater transparency about who
really owns, controls, and benefits from
Commitment 6
The UK government will, for the first time, bring together all of the UK’s anti-corruption
efforts under one cross-government anti-corruption plan.
Supporting civil society organisations
BOND Anti-Corruption Group: Article 19, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Corruption Watch, Global
Witness, Integrity Action, ONE, Public Concern at Work, Tearfund, The Corner House,
Transparency International UK
Vision and impact
Our vision is to have a robust, cross-government anti-corruption plan that will bring much more
coordination and coherence to the work that is going on, from preventing corruption taking place
in the first instance to taking effective enforcement action when it does.
Context
The UK’s work so far has sought to address corruption both at home and abroad. The UK
government takes the issue of preventing and dealing with corruption where it occurs - both at
home and overseas – very seriously. Over recent years, the UK has taken a number of steps to
deal with corruption and we have good structures and legislation already in place including:
the Bribery Act (2010) which is a world-leading piece of legislation reforming criminal law to
provide a new, modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences and including a new
offence of failure by a commercial organisation to prevent a bribe being paid for or on its
behalf
the introduction of Deferred Prosecution Agreements as an additional tool to help
prosecutors deal with bribery and corruption in large companies
the appointment of a government Anti-Corruption Champion covering both domestic and
international affairs
two Department for International Development (DFID)-funded police units, one in the
Metropolitan Police investigating money stolen from developing countries and laundered
through the UK, and another unit in the City of London Police tackling bribery by UK
companies and nationals in developing countries
steps taken to tackle abuse of the LIBOR mechanism
creation of the National Crime Agency which has the role and remit to lead, support and
direct other agencies to tackle serious and organised fraud, bribery and corruption
19
20.
publication of the new Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, which sets out how we will
make the UK a more hostile place for bribery and corruption; the strategy makes it clear that
the Home Office will take a new lead role in coordinating all domestic bribery and corruption
policy, working with the Cabinet Office and DFID to align this with work on corruption
overseas
the creation in 2012 of a UK Asset Recovery Task Force to gather evidence, trace assets
and pursue legal cases to return money stolen and laundered through the UK by the former
regimes of the Arab Spring countries
Even with this activity taking place, we recognise that there is more that can be done to improve
our standing at home and to better manage our reputation for dealing with corruption and
bribery offences overseas. To do this, the UK government will for the first time bring together all
of the UK’s anti-corruption efforts under one cross-government anti-corruption plan. The plan
will bring greater coordination and effectiveness to the UK’s efforts to tackle corruption both
domestically and internationally, across government and its agencies, and with civil society,
business and international institutions. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil
society organisations (CSOs) will be consulted for their views on the content of the plan.
The plan will include a range of measures that the UK will take to prevent corruption and
enforce relevant legislation. For example, once refreshed EU rules are in place – whereby we
are already required to exclude suppliers for bribery and corruption – we will reconsider:
the potential benefits and disadvantages of a register of excluded suppliers
implementing and enforcing the UK Bribery Act by resourcing enforcement agencies and
ensuring effective reporting processes
tackling money laundering through international collaboration
The UK government will also build on good progress made so far, by continuing to work with the
UK’s Overseas Territories to extend to them the United Nations Convention against Corruption
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery
Convention. The Home Office will provide the coordination function across government which
will report jointly to the Home Secretary and the government’s Anti-Corruption Champion.
Means
The development and content of the plan is still for departments to agree. The Home Office will
work with the Cabinet Office, other government departments, and CSOs to take forward this
work.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC4, GC5
Commitment 7
The UK government will lead by example by creating a publicly accessible central
registry of company beneficial ownership information. The registry will contain
information about who ultimately owns and controls UK companies.
Supporting civil society organisations
CAFOD, Christian Aid, Global Witness, ONE, Open Knowledge Foundation, OpenCorporates,
Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, Transparency International UK
20
21. Vision and impact
A lack of knowledge about who ultimately controls, owns and profits from companies and legal
arrangements facilitates their misuse for illicit purposes including tax evasion, money
laundering, corruption and bribery.
The UK is committed to lead by example to implement international standards on transparency
of ownership and control to tackle the misuse of companies and legal arrangements. In
particular, the UK has committed to place a requirement on companies to obtain and hold
adequate, accurate and current information on their beneficial ownership – defined as the
natural person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a legal person or arrangement.
Company beneficial ownership information will be held in a central registry maintained by
Companies House. The UK sought views on whether information in the registry should be made
publicly accessible. A large number of respondents to the consultation supported this in the
interests of promoting positive corporate behaviour and transparency, though concerns were
also expressed, notably around competitiveness impacts and privacy. Having carefully
considered the arguments for and against, the UK has committed to making information on
individuals with significant interests in UK companies accessible publicly via Companies House,
potentially using as a model the type of information already in the public domain on company
shareholders.
As we further develop the policy we will give careful consideration to:
how we can best protect individuals who might be at risk of harm through disclosure of this
information
the sanctions that will apply if individuals or companies deliberately provide false
information, or fail to provide information
how the registry will operate in practice
This will help ensure the robust implementation of the new requirements.
In parallel, the UK is taking forward related G8 commitments to enhance corporate transparency
and has sought views on the following issues:
the prohibition of new and existing bearer shares, which allow company shares to be traded
anonymously
enhanced transparency around the use of nominee directors, which can be used to conceal
who really controls a company
the prohibition of corporate directors, which can be used to create an opaque corporate
structure
Furthermore, we continue to pursue the same level of ambition through the EU, G8 and the
G20. All G8 countries have published action plans on beneficial ownership. The G20 also
declared at St Petersburg this year that they too will lead by example on implementation of
beneficial ownership requirements, and G20 leaders have tasked finance ministers to update
the G20 next year on steps taken to meet the relevant international standards. In the EU, the
UK is continuing to push for an ambitious approach in the context of proposals for a Fourth EU
Money Laundering Directive.
Through the UK’s G8 action plan on beneficial ownership, the UK is taking forward a number of
other commitments. We are currently undertaking the UK’s first ever national risk assessment of
money laundering and terrorist financing threat to be completed in 2014. We also committed to
improve the supervision and enforcement of those that facilitate company formation in the UK.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are currently leading a review of supervision and
enforcement of trust and service providers which will include consideration of additional
measures to ensure company formation agents conduct effective due diligence including the
identification and verification of beneficial owners. We will also take forward work in the context
of the national risk assessment to assess the money laundering and terrorist financing risk
posed by trusts, and through the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive we will seek to ensure
21
22. that trustees of express trusts are obliged to obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current
information on beneficial ownership regarding the trust. Furthermore, we are working hard in the
OECD to establish a new global standard on automatic exchange of information which the G20
has called for by February 2014. This will provide greater transparency over trusts than ever
before, providing the authorities with more information to tackle the misuse of trusts.
Context
A lack of transparency of company ownership and control favours those looking to hide their
identity and launder illicit proceeds through international financial systems. In the UK,
investigations are frequently frustrated by the inability of law enforcement to identify the true
owner of a company being used to hide or conceal criminal activity, particularly where this
information is held offshore by companies incorporated outside the UK. The government is
taking steps to implement smart regulation which will improve the playing field for responsible
businesses and put a stop to abuse by those who are less scrupulous. In leading by example,
the UK hopes to encourage collective global action to tackle corporate opacity.
Companies are already required to know and provide information on their beneficial ownership
when, for example, they seek to establish a bank account. Similarly, financial institutions and
other professional organisations are required to verify beneficial ownership information through
their customer due diligence requirements, with higher risk clients requiring a higher degree of
verification. However, financial institutions often cite the customer due diligence requirements as
one of the most costly and difficult requirements to fulfil as they are heavily reliant on the
information provided by the company. An explicit requirement on companies to obtain and hold
information on their beneficial owners could make it easier for financial institutions and others to
carry out this due diligence.
By requiring UK companies to provide this information to a central registry, there could be
additional benefits for tax authorities and law enforcement agencies in terms of more efficient
investigations into company ownership and control. Making this information available publicly
could have advantages in terms of public scrutiny, building public trust and ensuring investors,
the market and other companies can identify who really owns the companies with whom they
are doing business.
Timescales
The government discussion paper relating to these commitments has informed this action plan.
Implementation will now be taken forward through amendments to company law, led by the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and through: transposition of the Fourth EU
Money Laundering Directive, which is currently being negotiated; amendments to the UK Money
Laundering Regulations; and other relevant bilateral and multilateral agreements led by HM
Treasury.
Grand challenges
GC2, GC5
Commitment 8
The UK government will establish by 1 January 2014 a high level working group to
ensure greater transparency and accessibility of police records in England and
Wales. The group will explore the range of options for achieving this, including bringing
police force records under legislative control, by adding police forces to the Public
Records Act 1958, alongside other options that may not require legislation. The working
group will report with a clear proposal and action plan by 30 June 2014.
Supporting civil society organisations
The International Records Management Trust
22
23. Vision and impact
If police records were brought into the public records system, police bodies would be required to
review their records and transfer those selected for permanent preservation to a place of
deposit by the time that they are 30 years old (reducing to 20 years over the next decade), in
order to ensure their long-term preservation and public accessibility. It would still be possible for
police bodies to retain records such as scene of crime evidence for a further period if they could
demonstrate the records were needed for current and future work.
The working group will determine the potential benefits and whether it recommends to ministers
implementation of the recommendation made by the Hillsborough Independent Panel. The
decision ultimately rests with ministers.
Context
This was a recommendation following the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s Report into the
disaster at the Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield in 1989. The Panel noted that police
records were made available to the Panel on an exceptional basis and would not normally have
been made available. The Panel recommended that “police force records are brought under
legislative control and that police forces are added to Part II of the First Schedule to the Public
Records Act 1958, thereby making them subject to the supervision of the Keeper of Public
Records”. There may be other options to achieve the objective that do not require legislation.
Timescales
The working group will report by 30 June 2014. If it supports the recommendation then it will
propose a resourcing and implementation plan to ministers for consideration.
Means
If ministers agree, pending appropriate resourcing, police forces in England and Wales would
assess records in accordance with a retention and disposal policy and schedule developed with
guidance from The National Archives. Suitable places of deposit would be identified for police
forces where records can be deposited and viewed by the public, at the appropriate time.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC3, GC5
Commitment 9
The UK government will promote the principles of transparency and accountability in all
government-funded construction projects in the domestic and international arenas,
including, in the period up until 2015:
working with others in government and civil society to identify suitable projects for
the application of the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) in the UK
using its bilateral and multilateral relationships to encourage the establishment of at
least four new national CoST programmes in countries where DFID is working
Supporting civil society organisations
CoST, Engineers Against Poverty, Institution of Civil Engineers, Integrity Action, Transparency
International UK
Impact and vision
Promoting transparency and accountability in infrastructure will achieve impact in four
interrelated areas:
reductions in corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency
creating a business environment in which contracts are awarded solely on the basis of price
and quality
better value for money invested in infrastructure
better quality infrastructure and services
23
24. The beneficiaries of these improvements are all those who contribute to the public purse
through taxation and/or use public infrastructure. Private sector organisations that follow
principles of integrity and efficient management in bidding for and undertaking construction work
will also benefit.
Our vision is for all governments to be applying the principles of openness and accountability to
government funded construction projects. Realising this vision is an enormous task and requires
action on many fronts, but the commitments included here will help demonstrate how it can be
achieved.
Context
Construction is an essential component of job creation, enterprise development and the
achievement of international development goals. But construction is also particularly susceptible
to problems of corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency and it has been estimated that up to
a third of investment could be lost as a result.
Open government can help deal with these problems and improve value for money. DFID
funded a three year CoST pilot project from 2008 to 2011. Since then CoST has been
established as an independent legal entity and is taking the programme forward with support
from the World Bank. CoST is an example of how these benefits can be realised. Its
achievements include the annulment of a contract and debarment of consultants through
highlighting irregularities on the rehabilitation of the Belize Bridge in Guatemala and institutional
improvements in the form of regulations and/or legislation requiring the disclosure of information
in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania. DFID continues to provide direct support to countries
participating in CoST. This includes £100,000 to CoST Ethiopia, £50,000 to CoST Tanzania and
£98,000 to CoST Vietnam.
Infrastructure UK has been very supportive of CoST. This support was reflected in its
Infrastructure Cost Review: annual report 2012 to 2013
“In January 2013 the Prime Minister reinforced, in a letter to the G8 Leaders, the
government’s commitment for improved global transparency on construction costs –
including through the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) and new ideas
like a global land transparency partnership. Infrastructure UK will continue to promote
the use of CoST principles.”
Timescales
The key milestones for this commitment are:
apply CoST disclosure requirements on additional projects in the UK by 2015
use government’s bilateral and multilateral relationships to encourage the establishment of
at least four new national CoST programmes by 2015 in countries where DFID is working
Means
The mechanism that will be used to measure progress is the CoST Monitoring and Evaluation
framework, the results of which will be subject to independent review. All information will be
made available to the OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism.
Government, including Infrastructure UK in the domestic arena and DFID in the global arena, in
partnership with non-governmental actors, will be drivers of promoting transparency and
accountability in construction. CoST will lead multi-country efforts to promote multi-stakeholder
programmes to improve value for money in construction.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4
24
25. Commitment 10
The UK government will:
promptly publish all new primary and secondary legislation on legislation.gov.uk
bring the revised versions of primary legislation on legislation.gov.uk up to date by
the end of 2015 and keep them up to date subsequently
make legislative data available in an open and accessible format to allow people to reuse content under terms of the UK’s Open Government Licence
Supporting civil society organisations
Involve, The Democratic Society
Impact and vision
The volume and piecemeal structure of the statute book make it difficult for users to find and
use legislation. To make the entire collection of UK legislation available free of charge on a user
friendly platform such as legislation.gov.uk enables lawyers and ordinary citizens alike to
identify and scrutinise the laws on which their legal rights and responsibilities are based.
The site contains legislation as it is originally enacted or made, and in the case of Acts in
revised or amended form, thereby showing changes to legislation over time. It already offers
users significant access to UK legislation. Legislation.gov.uk is the world’s first linked data
statute book, providing free online access to all UK legislation. Bringing the online statute book
fully up to date will provide full access to the statute book as open data – providing an API to
give developers full and open access to the underlying data – and will be a step change in
transparency and access to the law.
Context
Law has a wider readership than ever before. The web has made it possible for people to find
sources of law and legal information more easily but most users of legislation tend to find the
experience confusing. The digital age brings new opportunities to ensure that legislation is
accessible and comprehensible. Tools for publishing and arranging law, and techniques for
diagnosing and predicting how law is used could dramatically improve public access to the law
and the way people perceive and use legislation. Products already created by commercial reusers include a smartphone application and a product enabling lecturers to create and selfpublish course-specific ‘mini statute books’.
In 2010, The National Archives launched legislation.gov.uk, the first service of its kind in the
world. The creation of legislation.gov.uk integrated two distinct and very different sets of data
from the previous statutelaw.gov.uk and opsi.gov.uk services. It involved the migration of
thousands of documents, while ensuring that their accuracy and integrity was preserved.
Legislation was also one of the first government websites to be underpinned by an API, giving
people access to the underlying data and promoting its re-use.
While the service provides the text of legislation (including legislation passed by the devolved
governments of the UK) dating back to 1267, it does not yet take account of every ‘effect’ – the
changes (since 2002) made by one piece of legislation to another. Since the launch, The
National Archives has been working to ensure that the service is brought fully up to date, by
applying thousands of effects.
The UK government has set a goal of applying all outstanding legislative effects to primary
legislation by the end of 2015. By April 2013, there were less than 129,000 outstanding effects
still to be applied to legislation.gov.uk. The key priority is to ensure that the entirety of the UK
statute book in its most up to date version is easily accessible and presented to citizens in a
user friendly format.
25
26. Timescales
The UK government has set the goal of applying all outstanding legislative effects by the end of
2015. Metrics for the timely release of information against the various legislation are already set
and year on year progress can be measured through collection and amalgamating the relevant
data sources. Progress towards this is monitored as one of The National Archives’ key
performance indicators and reported on in its annual report to Parliament.
Means
The UK government will, with support from The National Archives, ensure that best practice is
identified, understood and applied appropriately by government. It will identify or create
standards to deliver this commitment through process and technology. The major mechanism
for achieving this goal is The National Archives’ Expert Participation Programme. Maintaining an
up to date public source of legislation with finite resources is a hundred year-old challenge, but
there is a wide and disparate community with an interest in bringing the online statute book fully
up to date. The UK’s Parliaments and Assemblies make around 15,000 changes to legislation
every year – and The National Archives has the resources to apply 10,000 of those in-house.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC5
Commitment 11
The UK government is committed to ensuring a strong legislative framework to
encourage workers to speak up about wrongdoing, risk or malpractice without fear of
reprisal.
Supporting civil society organisations
Public Concern at Work, Transparency International UK
Vision and impact
The government’s vision is to ensure that whistleblowers are protected from suffering any
reprisal. Whistleblowing is recognised as playing an important role in preventing malpractice
and illegal activity and it is right that individuals are protected when acting to expose
wrongdoing that is in the public interest. Where there are barriers to whistleblowing, such as the
fear of losing employment or being bullied, it creates a negative culture that prevents
wrongdoing from being effectively addressed. Recent case studies have indicated that the
legislation has not worked as effectively as hoped and it has also shown that there is a need for
a cultural shift in attitude to whistleblowing.
The UK government is working to ensure that issues with the existing framework to protect
whistleblowers are resolved, so that government can contribute to achieving the cultural change
necessary. This work was initiated through changes made in the Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform Act 2013 and continues in the current call for evidence on the legislative framework.
The UK government will consider using a range of complimentary measures to achieve its
vision. The appropriate mechanisms will be used for implementation. This could be anything
from legislative change, statutory or non statutory codes of practice, guidance or best practice
measures.
Context
The legislative framework for whistleblowing in the UK was introduced in 1998 to ensure that
whistleblowers are protected from suffering dismissal or reprisal when they raise the alarm
about issues of public interest, such as malpractice, in an organisation they work in. The
intention was to encourage people to raise issues of concern to prevent disasters and scandals
such as Barings Bank and the Piper Alpha Explosion. Over the past 15 years this law has
played an important role in raising issues and holding organisations to account. However,
recent reports such as the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and the Mid
26
27. Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Report have highlighted that there is a need to strengthen
the framework, as part of a response to prevent scenarios such as unacceptably poor levels of
patient care, fraudulent activity, and staff cultures that deter whistleblowers from raising
concerns. Therefore, the UK Government has called for evidence to understand where the
system is not working as well as it should and allow consideration to be given to what steps
could be taken to improve the framework. We consider that a holistic view of the issues and
solutions is the best approach for taking future work forward.
Timescales
The changes that have already been introduced will be reviewed as part of the wider evaluation
strategy for the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. This is a five year plan and will
draw conclusions by 2018.
The call for evidence will close on 1 November 2013. The UK government will then consider the
responses, along with the report from the Whistleblowing Commission, supported by Public
Concern at Work to identify solutions.
Means
Following evaluation of the responses to the call for evidence, the UK government will set out a
plan for future work to achieve change and will continue to monitor the general landscape, along
with Publish Concern at Work, to understand the experiences of whistleblowers.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, GC5
27
28. Fiscal transparency:
helping citizens to
follow the money
countries and has recently committed to the
establishment of a new Developing Countries
Capacity Building Unit at HMRC. This will be
dedicated to providing support to developing
countries’ tax authorities and will initially
deliver tax programmes in Southern Africa,
Tanzania, Ethiopia and Pakistan.
Progress to date
Fiscal transparency is one of the eligibility
requirements for countries looking to join the
OGP and the UK government is committed to
reaching the highest standards in this area.
Fiscal transparency involves making financial
information available to citizens throughout
the governmental process – from
transparency in taxes and revenues received,
to transparency in how government money is
used on contracts and service delivery.
In the 2012 Open Budget Survey, which
measures budget transparency, public
participation and oversight by Parliament and
audit institutions, the UK was ranked third in
the world with a score of 88 out of 100. This is
a significant achievement and we hope to
retain or better this scoring when we are next
assessed in the 2014 survey. To show our
support to budget transparency both
domestically and internationally, we have
recently announced funding of £5 million to
the International Budget Partnership (IBP). As
well as conducting the Open Budget Survey,
the IBP collaborates with a large and diverse
network of CSOs around the world to make
budget processes more transparent so that
timely, accessible, useful budget information
is available to citizens. The IBP works with
CSOs to analyse and participate in
government budget processes, and work with
formal oversight institutions to hold
government to account. This money will
support the IBP as they continue to improve
governance through increased global budget
transparency, participation and accountability.
Tax was a key element of the UK’s G8
Presidency in 2013 at which the UK agreed to
provide practical support to developing
countries, both directly and by working with
our international partners, so they can build
their capacity to collect taxes that are owed to
them.
An effective tax system is at the heart of an
effective state. Tax revenues provide the only
sustainable alternative to aid for funding of
essential public services, from health centres
to infrastructure. Taxation is also a core part
of state building and a visible sign of a social
contract between citizens and the state. Fair
and transparent taxation promotes social
cohesion and shapes government legitimacy
by promoting accountability of governments to
tax-paying citizens.
The UK government is already a strong
supporter of revenue collection in developing
It is estimated that governments around the
world spend over US$9.5 trillion every single
year through contracts. It is vital that citizens
28
29. months. Our vision is to provide accountability
to UK citizens on the performance of its major
projects to drive greater improvement in the
way projects are delivered. It is hoped that
year on year reporting will drive up the
success rate even further.
are able to see who are awarded these
contracts and how their money is being spent.
This improves the transparency of
government contracting so that wastefulness
and inefficiency is eliminated and corruption
and mismanagement of public funds is
prevented.
“The Authority’s first annual report was a
watershed moment. For the first time ever we
disclosed an honest appraisal rating for each
one of the government’s major projects. This
transparency will help further drive up
standards, ensuring the billions of pounds that
we spend on projects are properly focussed.”
The UK government is committed to
transparency and opening major government
projects to public scrutiny. In May 2013, the
Major Projects Authority published its first
annual report which requires government
departments to publish their performance
ratings, actions to improve performance, and
other information on the project every 12
Rt Hon Francis Maude MP, Minister for
Cabinet Office
Commitment 12
The UK government endorses the principles of open contracting. We will build on the
existing foundation of transparency in procurement and contracting and, in consultation
with civil society organisations and other stakeholders, we will look at ways to enhance
the scope, breadth and usability of published contractual data.
Supporting civil society organisations
CAFOD, Campaign for Freedom of Information, Compact Voice, Global Witness, Integrity
Action, ONE, Open Knowledge Foundation, The Institute for Government
Vision and Impact
‘Open contracting’ refers to practices for increased disclosure and citizen participation in public
contracting. It covers the entire process, including formation, award, execution, performance
and completion of public contracts.
Domestically, our vision is to provide accountability to the taxpayer for how government funds
are spent, to drive better value for money and increased competition, and to improve the quality
of the services and products government buys. We will achieve this by delivering greater
transparency of the procurement and contracting process.
The UK is sharing its expertise in open contracting through an international group of
organisations led by the World Bank. The Open Contracting Partnership introduced a set of
Open Contracting Global Principles to a public audience for consultation on its blog and website
in August 2013. This was after developing them over a period of 18 months with over 200
representatives from governments, the private sector and civil society.
The UK broadly welcomes these principles and will look to assist developing nations to improve
the transparency of their government contracting. The Open Contracting Partnership is also
working to develop a set of open data standards that should also deliver greater harmonisation
of the data that is published.
Context
The Prime Minister published a letter on 31 May 2010 setting out three policy commitments in
relation to open contracting:
all new central government ICT contracts to be published online from July 2010
29
30.
all new central government tender documents for contracts over £10,000 to be published on
a single website from September 2010, with this information to be made available to the
public free of charge
all new central government contracts to be published in full from January 2011
The vehicle for publication is Contracts Finder.
All data published on Contracts Finder is published under the Open Government Licence. As of
September 2013, nearly 18,000 contracts had been published. Where the supply chain has
already been established, typically the contract will contain details of the key subcontractors.
Key metadata for each contract is available to the general public in the form of machinereadable CSV files.
In addition, since 31 March 2011 central government, and other public sector bodies have used
Contracts Finder to advertise contract opportunities of a value above £10,000. Opportunities
above the threshold for publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) are
also automatically advertised on Contracts Finder through an interoperable link. Additional data
feeds provide access to contract opportunities published by other wider public sector bodies.
In November 2011 an additional dataset was added. These ‘procurement pipelines’ cover up to
£79 billion of potential contracting opportunities across 18 sectors over the next six years. Each
notice in the pipeline contains a confidence level allowing suppliers to get an idea of how likely it
is that a contract notice will be issued further down the line. The dataset is being expanded
regularly with the next new pipeline due to come on stream in November 2013.
Key suppliers to government have also been encouraged to post subcontracting opportunities
on Contracts Finder. To date, over 160 subcontracting opportunities have been published in
support of the delivery of government contracts.
Departments are expected to ensure when entering into a new contract provisions are
contained within the contractual terms and conditions; this will allow for the contract to be
published. A standard transparency clause was developed in support of this policy.
Timescales
Over the next 12 to 24 months the UK government will:
endorse, implement and champion internationally the Open Contracting Principles at the
end of October 2013 and continue to assist in the development of a set of open contracting
data standards
subject to technical capability, enhance the scope, breadth and usability of published
contractual data on the Contracts Finder system to include:
o providing greater transparency of contracts awarded overseas, beginning October
2013
o delivering a new procurement pipeline in November 2013
o investigating the feasibility of providing greater transparency of design competitions
run by the Technology Strategy Board
o engaging with prime contractors to encourage them to provide improved visibility of
supply chain opportunities, and explore a means of standardising the publication of
sub-contractor details through Contracts Finder to make this data more accessible
o investigating the use of open corporate identifiers to allow the data to be more easily
compared and linked to other data held about contracting authorities and suppliers;
o working with a user group to look at ways of improving site usability to make it easier
to publish data and to find opportunities and other data of interest
look to introduce standard transparency clauses into central government contracts in
consultation with civil society organisations and the business community
build on the findings from a pilot programme by launching the new Solutions Exchange
website during Winter 2013 for small and medium-sized enterprises to pitch innovative
solutions to government outside of the formal procurement process, and for government to
30
31.
conduct informal pre-market engagement by providing greater transparency of the
challenges and themes to which solutions are needed
take steps to ensure transparency about outsourced services is provided in response to
freedom of information requests, by encouraging the use and enforcement of contractual
provisions to maintain the levels of transparency provided by the Freedom of Information Act
2000; revised guidance will be provided in 2014
publish contracts using the local language where contracts are drawn up with overseas
suppliers; we will consider what further steps can be taken to provide greater transparency
of contracts to affected communities where additional language barriers occur
Means
To support delivery of this commitment we will:
commence implementation of the Lord Young recommendations following the end of the
public consultation beginning in late October 2013
enhancements to the Contracts Finder system which will take the form of an iterative
approach. The system is due to undergo re-procurement over the next 12 months; we will
be reviewing the specification and usability with a range of stakeholders, with a view to
identifying what improvements might be made in the short term and what further
enhancements could subsequently be brought on stream
continue to monitor quarterly and publish reports on core departmental performance in
publishing tenders and contracts; this supports principle 1.4 of the Compact which states
that government will “ensure greater transparency by making data and information more
accessible”
populate The Solutions Exchange platform with potential challenges and themes for which
departments need solutions. We anticipate that it will be launched to the public sometime in
Winter 2013
Grand challenges
GC2, GC3, GC5
Commitment 13
The Scottish government broadly endorses the principles of ‘open contracting’ and
commits to work with civil society and wider stakeholder groups to improve
transparency in its procurement practices as part of our continuing programme of
procurement reform.
Supporting civil society organisations
Civil society organizations to be consulted in 2014
Vision and impact
The Scottish government has set out a clear vision for the future of Scotland. At the core of its
programme is the determination to focus government and public services on creating a more
successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing
sustainable economic growth. The Scottish government and the wider public sector are
committed to public procurement reform. The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill is intended to
build on the work to date. It aims to establish a national legislative framework for public
procurement that supports Scotland’s economic growth by delivering social and environmental
benefits, supporting innovation and promoting public procurement processes and systems
which are transparent, streamlined, standardised, proportionate, fair and business friendly.
Promoting transparency, accountability and the efficient use of public resources is central to this
vision and to ensuring value for money. ‘Open contracting’ relates to ensuring transparency and
accountability in procurement practices and procedures, which in turn will promote fair
competition and greater access by all sectors to public sector contracts.
31
32. Context
The Scottish government has very similar policies on open contracting to the UK, the only
important differences being the thresholds at which we recommend advertising (£50,000 in
Scotland, £10,000 for Whitehall departments and £500 for local government) and that we do not
promote the automatic publication of contract documents themselves. The Scottish procurement
portal for advertising is Public Contracts Scotland (PCS).
A central theme of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill is transparency and the Scottish
government has consulted widely with a diverse range of stakeholders throughout 2012 on the
Bill proposals. The Scottish Procurement Reform Bill currently progressing through the Scottish
Parliament introduces a number of new general duties including a general duty on contracting
authorities to conduct procurement in a transparent and proportionate manner. Other important
measures aimed at improving transparent and open contracting include the mandatory use of
the single online portal Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) for advertising contract opportunities,
the publication of contract award notices and contract registers, the publication of procurement
strategies by public bodies and de-briefing on a regulated procurement to unsuccessful
economic operators, unsuccessful tenderers and successful tenderers. This range of
transparency measures supported by Scotland’s Freedom of Information legislation and by a
diverse range of Scottish stakeholders, including civil society, are designed to widen access
opportunities to public sector contracts across all sectors, stimulate competition and encourage
accountability and openness in the awarding of contracts. These developments are fully in line
with the broad principles of ‘open contracting’.
Timescales
In 2014, the Scottish government will undertake external stakeholder engagement on the ‘open
contracting’ commitment. We will, monitor the extents to which contracts are advertised through
PCS and compliance generally with the transparency elements of the Bill and our wider
procurement reform programme.
Means
The Scottish government and the wider public sector work in partnership to improve
procurement policies, procedures and practices. Realising procurement reform requires
collaboration between all stakeholders – across the public, private and third sectors. In
Scotland, four Centres of Procurement Expertise across central government, local government,
the National Health Service and Higher and Further Education support public sector bodies to
improve the capability and capacity of public procurement. Governance mechanisms exist to
help influence and drive the procurement reform agenda. As part of consulting on the ‘open
contracting’ commitment, these bodies will be involved.
The mechanisms being further developed through the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill, in
addition, to building on existing systems and processes should allow for capturing contracting
authorities’ commitment to the principle of transparency and open contracting, for example,
through monitoring the use of the advertising portal Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) and
adherence to the public duty on transparency.
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC3, GC5
32
33. Commitment 14
The UK government will show leadership in transforming the transparency of global
development assistance by publishing information on official development assistance
(ODA) in line with the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Standard, so that UK
assistance can be tracked through the delivery chain.
Supporting civil society organisations
Development Initiatives, Integrity Action, ONE, OpenCorporates, Publish What You Fund
Vision and impact
Increasing the transparency and traceability of development spending has the potential to
transform the way aid is delivered globally and to improve its impact. Making information about
aid spending easier to access, understand and use means that taxpayers in donor countries
and citizens in developing countries can more easily hold governments to account for using
funds wisely. It also enables international development actors to coordinate and plan their
activities more effectively. As the UK achieves the milestone of providing 0.7% of Gross
National Income on development assistance from 2013, this greater transparency and
openness is a crucial element of helping to ensure we get best value for every pound spent.
Achievement of this commitment will result in more UK data on development assistance being
published and available in a common format to an internationally recognised standard. We will
also encourage other providers of development assistance to make their information available in
this common format, helping to create a richer global dataset of more open, timely,
comprehensive, comparable and reusable information.
Context
Increasing the transparency and traceability of development commitments and spending can
transform the way aid is delivered globally, improving its impact, increasing accountability and
helping reduce waste and opportunities for fraud and corruption.
Under UK government leadership the IATI developed and agreed a ground-breaking common,
international open data standard for publishing detailed information on development flows. It is
an example of a successful and inspirational open data initiative that crosses national
boundaries. The standard is designed to make data easier for users to find, compare and re-use
– so that donors, governments and service providers can coordinate better, avoid duplication of
projects and plan their activities knowing what others are doing. It also helps parliamentarians,
civil society organisations and citizens to hold their governments to account for the use of these
resources.
IATI is a voluntary, multi-stakeholder initiative involving donors, partner countries, civil society
organisations and other providers of development cooperation. Membership has expanded to
37 major donors and 22 endorsing partner countries. Over 175 organisations, including many
UK and international civil society organisations, are now using the standard – DFID was the
first. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the
Home Office, Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions have also
published data using the IATI standard.
The UK government introduced an Aid Transparency Guarantee in June 2010. In 2011, DFID
published financial information and project documents for all new DFID projects to show:
why we have chosen a particular project
how it will be implemented
how much it will cost
what results we expect
ultimately what has actually been achieved
33
34. In October 2012, DFID was ranked first (out of 72 international organisations) in the 2012
Publish What You Fund Aid Transparency Index.
Building on this, the government has ambitious plans to increase the transparency of its
development assistance information, as well as helping partners to improve theirs through an
Aid Transparency Challenge. This has led to building of a prototype of a new open data platform
for development assistance – the ‘Development Tracker’ – which uses IATI standard open data
to present timely and detailed information on UK programmes and expenditure and supports
greater traceability of assistance. The UK government will make this technology available for
others to use.
We believe this commitment will work as there is strong international momentum around
increasing the transparency of development assistance, and an appreciation that this is key to
improving effectiveness as well as accountability. The commitment builds on recent G8
commitments – and previous DFID commitments at the Busan High Level Forum on Aid
Effectiveness in December 2011.
Timescales
The Cabinet Office and DFID will work together to ensure that UK government departments that
spend ODA publish information in line with IATI by 2015.
In addition, DFID will:
implement the Busan Common Standard on Aid Transparency, including both the Creditor
Reporting System of the OECD Development Assistance Committee and IATI by 2015; this
means making data available according to the internationally recognised standard in a
format that is open, comprehensive, comparable and re-usable
improve the accessibility of development assistance information by launching the UK
‘Development Tracker’ by the end of 2013 – this will increase the level of detail of
information available on DFID projects and expenditure, readable by use of a browser as
well as providing data in open data files; we will also publish summary information in major
local languages in a way that is accessible to citizens in the countries in which we work
work with international donors and partner countries to better link development assistance
data with partner countries’ budget data, through the development of the IATI budget
identifier, by June 2014; this will make it easier to understand and trace how development
assistance is being spent in partner countries
introduce approaches to improving the traceability of UK development assistance through a
range of delivery chains by August 2014; this includes pilots with a number of private sector
suppliers and CSOs by March 2014 and a requirement of IATI publication by the end of
2015 for all implementing partners
continue to drive up standards in the quality of information we publish through incremental
system changes, including maximising the potential of new technological developments and
strengthening feedback mechanisms
Means
DFID, including through close ministerial engagement, will continue to lead the implementation
of increased UK development assistance transparency, with Cabinet Office encouraging other
government departments to publish to IATI. Other drivers include existing accountability and
reporting mechanisms such as IATI, G8 and Global Partnership for Effective Development
Cooperation (GPEDC) monitoring, and CSO assessments of performance. It will also be driven
by requiring IATI reporting in new contracts with implementing partners. Departments will need
to factor resourcing into their transparency plans to ensure they are able to fulfil commitments.
The following existing mechanisms will measure progress:
G8 accountability reporting
GPEDC monitoring: reporting on progress towards implementation of Busan common
standard (first report in first half of 2014, next in 2015)
34
35.
IATI Annual Reports will reflect progress on increased transparency of development
assistance globally, as well as progress by DFID and OGDs on publishing to IATI
DFID will monitor progress against actions set out in the Aid Transparency Challenge
(deadlines per ‘Impact and Vision’ section above)
Grand challenges
GC1, GC2, GC3, GC5
35
